PetroSA's GTL refinery in Mossel Bay
Photo by: Duane Daws
South Africa’s national oil company PetroSA announced on Thursday that it had appointed construction company Group Five as its engineering management contractor for the 2013 statutory maintenance shutdown of its gas-to-liquids (GTL) refinery, near Mossel Bay, in the Western Cape.
No contract value was disclosed, but PetroSA confirmed that the JSE-listed construction group had been appointed following a tender process and that the contract was one of 86 that would be placed for the shutdown.
Refinery operations, as well as those of the offshore FA Platform, would be suspended for 37 days from September 22, operations VP Dr Thabo Kgogo said.
The four-yearly scheduled shutdown is expected to involve 4 000 workers, many of whom will be drawn from the surrounding area, as was the case in 2009.
The GTL refinery has a nameplate capacity of 42 000 bbl/d, but is operating at about half of that capacity, owing to gas shortages.
Soon after the completion of the shutdown, PetroSA is aiming to introduce additional gas supply from the FO offshore field, which is currently being developed under the Project Ikhwezi banner.
The Ikhwezi project will help shore up gas supply until 2020, by which time PetroSA is planning to supplement indigenous gas flows with liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports.
The State-owned company hopes to make an investment decision on a $375-million to $510-million LNG offloading facility during the fourth quarter of 2014, and begin receiving LNG imports during 2018. However, the funding plan is still being finalised.